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Hey, we recycled aluminum into sand castings when I was 12 years old, in shop class at school. We used a lot of stuff besides cans though. I tried lead casting at home when I was 10, when my parents were out of the house. I didn’t get lead poisoning OR burn the house down - though today I prefer lead-free pewter. 
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There are two types of cities: Ones where you can do a private metallurgy project on the sidewalk, and ones where you can’t.
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now that’s the thing.
I have about 40 ‘muffins’ of aluminum kicking around here. Made by standing around melting the recycling of myself an a couple friends, while catching up and staring at something burning. I have no idea what we will do with all of it, but it is priceless.
Maybe donate it to the National Security effort, with the week we’re having!
it’s why aluminum recycling is profitable. The cost of making new aluminum metal exceeds the cost of melting it down-- by a fair margin.
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Believe it or don’t, but the old man in my village has the moniker Hugh Jingotts. Last fearnoughtmaker on the Clyde before that horrible Maggie shut em down. Says he’s 110 thanks to pilfered whisky and poached salmon, wouldn’t say how he cooks it. Listens to Mogwai with me, says it sounds like a ship a’launching.
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I’zzz always just smelt
Nice. But not new. Lemme tell you a story.
About 15 years ago, a friend of mine lost his own best friend in an auto accident. He had a hard time dealing with it, but decided to do something to commemorate their friendship. He worked at an auto repair and salvage business that also took in scrap metal. After doing a bit of research, he crafted a homemade smelter that was capable of melting aluminum, which was plentiful at the business. He spent many weekends melting down cans, auto parts, screen door frames, whatever he could get his hands on. He then built a homemade lathe, cut the ingots down into 2x2 inch bars, and proceeded to turn out an entire set of chess pieces. (They had both been chess fanatics.) The set was beautiful and ultimately he decided to give it to his buddy’s parents.
It took about two years for him to finish. I used to stop by on weekends while he was smelting, and watched the whole tedious process, often done outside in the harsh Utah winter to avoid roasting indoors. I will always be amazed at the dedication that this man had for his lost friendship, and I always hope that someone will think about me as highly someday.
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I believe it was the difficulty of the extraction process.
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The reason was it so strongly bonds due to its tighter electrical band (it is a lighter metal) that in nature it is chemically locked with its environment. It actually exists in abundance in clay but it is separated using electricity which is why it was only recently exploited in industry as opposed to previous centuries.
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ITT: People who understand that there’s a difference in the meanings of melt and smelt. Take a lesson, Internet!
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Yes, of course, melt is a verb meaning to make or become liquefied by heat, and smelt is a noun meaning a small silvery fish. Of course, if you’re having your smelt in a sandwich with cheese on it, then you’d have a smelt melt, where smelt is an adjective and melt is a noun…or you could coin a word and call it a smeltmelt, which would be a compound noun, and then who could truly say there is any difference between smelt and melt if they are together as one?…That’s what you meant, right? (Do I need a winky?)
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The way you smelt it, you must have dealt it!
Also, I love your wit! 
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I thought of making an emergency call to @Jayuhmay for fish puns, then decided to try to handle the situation myself without the professionals…glad it worked out okay, phew!
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